Hungry residents won't leave flooded Bangkok

Lindsay Murdoch

BANGKOK: Fast-rising waters have inundated a widening swathe of the Thai capital as residents, refusing to leave already flooded areas, complain of shortages of food and bottled water.

Boats and makeshift floats are being used to take essential items through filthy waist-deep water to thousands of residents in the city's northern suburbs who have chosen to remain at home rather than go to the overcrowded evacuation centres.

A Buddhist monk in a flooded street in central Bangkok. The government is struggling as Thailand experiences its worst floods in 50 years. Photo: Reuters

''The government is providing some essentials but it is not enough,'' a middle-aged man told the Herald as he waded through water with his family.

Pocky Sae-lim, 35, whose house is flooded, said elderly people and babies were among victims stranded in flooded areas.

Authorities have told people in densely populated areas along the Chao Phraya river to prepare for flooding.

The river, which winds through Bangkok to the Gulf of Thailand, has reached a record level in recent days as authorities warn that 4 billion cubic metres of water is approaching Bangkok from the already devastated northern provinces.

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Phra Methiratanadilok, an assistant abbott at the riverside Arun Temple, also known as the Temple of Dawn, said he feared the 200-year-old complex would be swamped within days.

''I've never seen the river like this … it has been 50 years since we have had a threat like this,'' he said.

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Monks have built sandbag barriers alongside the river in front of the temple, one of Bangkok's best known attractions.

Thailand's government, under fire over its handling of the crisis that has killed more than 350 people and affected the lives of 9 million others, has declared a public holiday in Bangkok and 21 provinces from October 27 to 31 when the flooding will coincide with high tides.

As more than 20,000 Thai army soldiers attempted to shore up Bangkok's defences late yesterday, floodwaters began entering the north side of Bangkok's second airport, Don Muang, forcing at least one airline there to suspend operations.

The Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, told reporters an evacuation centre at the airport may have to be relocated.

''Although there's no flooding inside it, we are still facing transport disruptions out there,'' she said.

The government is preparing shelters for up to 800,000 people in the city of 12 million.

The Bangkok governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, has ordered workers to take special precautions to protect royal palaces and cultural sites that are at risk of flooding.

But tourist areas such as the popular Chatuchak market are expected to be inundated, possibly as soon as today.